The Akwamuhene Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III has commended officials of the Ghana State Book Project (GSBP) for expressing interest in compiling the Akwamu State Book which will contain the ancestral history of the Akwamu kingdom.
The Omanhene who described the Ghana State Book as the custodian of Ghana’s history made these recommendations at his palace during the observation of the 6th Akwasidae where officials of the Ghana State Book Project paid a courtesy call on him to present the commemoration certificate to the King of the Akwamu Kingdom. This is to signify the State Book Project’s readiness to kick start the compilation of the Akwamu State Book.
According to Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, “the Akwamu Traditional State has for the past three years been communicating with you, we were expecting you and here you are today. We appreciate your efforts so far and we believe your project in Akwamuman will be successful”.
He charged officials of the project led by Mr. Bright Isaac Botchway to discharge their duty with diligence, should not dilute the information or any accounts given them by the indigenous to the advantage of anybody so that at the end of your project Akwamuman could boast of a state book which reflects and represents the true history of Akwamuman.
He called on the royal families, kingmakers, Chiefs, and all subjects of Akwamuman, home and abroad, to cooperate and support the officials of the Ghana State Book Project to produce an accurate state book that will be accepted more or less as the constitution of the kingdom.
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“The book when completed I am told will be the reference book in solving every dispute in the Akwamu kingdom ranging from chieftaincy through to land dispute among any other thing that relates to the traditions and customs of Akwamuman”.
Presenting the commemoration certificate to the Akwamuhene Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, the Coordinator of the Ghana State Book Project after expressing his profound gratitude to the King and people of the area for the warm reception given them observed that the compilation of the Book has been long overdue as there is no written history of the kingdom and that is what the Ghana State Book Project has come to do.
“This project seeks to gather and authenticate traditional histories towards creating a state book as reference materials for resolving chieftaincy, family, and tribal disputes in the Akwamu Traditional State while making the information available for public usage and for further-reaching,” he explained.
“Our primary objective is to document the histories of the royal families in the traditional area to avoid chieftaincy conflicts, land disputes, inheritance contestations among others by joining all pieces of history together considering both written and unwritten as one cohesive and authentic history of the Akwamus while preventing misrepresentation in order to avoid misconception”.
He stressed that the book after compilation will provide the international community easy access to credible information about traditional histories and it’s cultural practices as well as producing a book that serves as reference material for students, educational institutions, religious groups, research organizations, and individuals for further research.
Mr. Botchway established some achievement after the creation of the office in 2006
“I am happy to inform your highness about some achievements of the Ghana State Book Project after its inception in 2006, has successfully produced five State Books which include the Awutu State Book, Techiman State Book, Offinso State Book, Hwidiem state book, and that of Tepa State Book. We are currently working on the Kwahu State Book which is expected to be completed in a few months”.
By: William Dei-Gyau